Mix-up sees music festival cancelled

A CHARITY music festival has been cancelled after an organisational mix-up.

Combining Disability Services, which organises regular live music nights for disabled islanders, set up the event to raise cash for two charities.

Thousands were expected at Prospects Stadium, Canvey Island FC’s ground, in Park Lane, on Sunday, May 4, to watch eight bands perform at Party in the Park.

The organisers claim the club said an administrative error meant a match was being played on the same day - although Canvey’s last match of the season is scheduled for April 26.

The club disputed this and said the event couldn’t go ahead because vital information regarding safety wasn’t submitted before the end of February.

Organiser Tony Thorne, 67, from Combining Disability Services, said he hoped 2,000 people would attend and with tickets costing £3 each, the charity has potentially lost £6,000.

He said: “It is with sadness and regret the Party in the Park has been cancelled. We have had to tell all the booked acts that it will not go ahead, although we hope it will in the future.”

Money raised would have been split between two local charities – the Mushroom Troop performing arts organisation and the Danny Green Fund.

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The Danny Green Fund supports children under 16 with the rare condition posterior fossa syndrome, and was set up in memory of 11-year-old Danny Green, of Canvey.

Mr Thorne said the club was offered Danny’s Pitch, where the Canvey Island FC youth team play in Northwick Road, but it would be too late to draw up a licensing agreement.

Chris Sutton, spokesman for the club, said documents were due to be submitted by the end of February but, after granting a week’s extension to the organisers, information had not been provided to the correct standard.

He said: “We sat down with the local authority and the police and discussed the options. As we are based in a residential area, we needed to take a number of important factors into consideration.

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“Although the event has been postponed, we will be happy to help arrange an event in the future.”

A charity night is still going ahead on Friday at the Concord Rangers’ ground, in Thames Road, Canvey. Tickets cost £10.

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